


to infinity and beyond

by leafsong



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, HQ Brofest Rookie Tier, Haikyuu!! Brofest 2018, Manga Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 06:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14206926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafsong/pseuds/leafsong
Summary: In the wake of Nationals, they train, and train, and train, until even Hinata is too tired to jump anymore.





	to infinity and beyond

In the wake of Nationals, they train, and train, and train, until even Hinata is too tired to jump anymore. 

Kageyama half-sits, half-collapses against the gym wall, fingers loosening to let the volleyball in his hands roll away. It bounces into another one and spins aimlessly, then stills. All around the gym, volleyballs lie scattered, a testament to how long they’ve been practicing. 

Hinata would say not long enough, and he’d agree. They need to be stronger, need to be able to fight and _win_. He can still hear the cheering of the crowds as Karasuno entered their third set against Itachiyama, the shouts of the other players, the smack of spikes traded back and forth. The squeak of shoes on the court. His own ragged breathing. 

He can hear the ball thudding to the floor, the skid of Noya, Daichi, and Tanaka diving for the ball. Half a second too late. The referee’s whistle blowing two notes, one short, one long. The final score: 25-21. Itachiyama’s victory. 

Afterwards, everyone had said that Karasuno making the top eight at Nationals was a miracle. Even Shiratorizawa hadn’t made it farther. But at the end of the day, logic couldn’t erase the sting of not being able to stay on the court. 

The sound of Hinata’s labored breathing brings Kageyama back to the gym — both of them have pushed themselves too hard. Overtraining is dangerous, he knows. He remembers when Oikawa’s knee first started bothering him, knows that if Iwaizumi hadn’t stopped him, his volleyball career might not have continued for long beyond junior high. It’s hard to hold back though, when Hinata shares the same spirit and hunger to improve. 

Only the strong stay on the court, and the players they’d met at Nationals were beyond strong. Sakusa’s spikes had power, accuracy, and flexibility beyond any of the spikers they’d ever gone up against. After three sets against Nekoma, Kageyama thought they would have gotten used to steady receives, but Komori had taken the principle of the guardian deity to another level entirely. Then there had been Inarizaki — everyone on that team had been crazy strong. The Miya brothers’ minus tempo quick and reverse minus tempo, number 10’s turn spikes, their captain’s receives — not to say anything of the people they hadn’t gotten a chance to play against. Hoshiumi’s well-rounded playstyle was something to be envied. 

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the walls they face have never been higher. But neither of them believes in giving up. 

They sprouted from the concrete, after all. 

It’s Hinata who sits up first, small body made even smaller as he hunches forward, arms around his knees. But his eyes are alight with the kind of fire that makes other teams treat him as a force to be reckoned with on the court. 

“Teach me how to toss.”

“Hah?” Kageyama’s too surprised for any other reaction. 

“Hoshiumi-san can do it, the Miya twins can do it, so we need to do it too, obviously!”

Kageyama’s suddenly reminded of the time Hinata started insisting on hitting their toss with his eyes open. _This guy_. Always moving forward. Always seeking to grow. Those receives during the Inarizaki match had been nothing short of breathtaking. And the _baaaaam_ jump during the Nekoma match — that had been beyond Kageyama’s expectations too. But this time, Kageyama’s not afraid of Hinata surpassing him. They need to become stronger, together. And if that means turning Hinata into a well-rounded player capable of shining in all positions, well, then that’s what they’ll do. 

Not that Hinata needs to know that that’s what he thinks. They’re rivals, after all. 

“Setting requires precision and accuracy, both of which are foreign concepts to you, dumbass.”

“What!” Hinata squawks indignantly. “Not true! You saw my receives, I know you did, I was spot-on with my positioning, Noya-san said so himself!”

“Setting’s different. It’s not just a matter of being in the right place, you have to send the ball to the right place too, which you still suck at — ”

“So teach me and I’ll get better!”

Kageyama glares at him and doesn’t answer. 

“Bakageyama, don’t be stingy! Come on, I’ll buy you meat buns every day we train together.”

“Idiot, Ukai-san now gives us free meat buns!”

“Only one each! I’ll buy you extra!”

“You have to practice every day,” Kageyama says, low and intense. “Every. Single. Day. You have to visualize the court, visualize the trajectory of the ball, how the spiker’s going to hit it, how you look to the opponent, how you’re going to time things, how much backspin to use, how much force, how — oi, are you getting any of this?!”

“If you go so fast, how do you expect me to keep up!”

“That’s what it’s like in a game, dumbass! Do you think you’ll have time to think about all of these things when you have only seconds to make these sorts of decisions in a match? It has to become instinctive. You have to spend every minute of your free time visualizing, until you don’t have to think about it anymore to know what to do.”

“If that’s what it takes, I’ll do it! I’ll do everything you said and do it better than you.” 

“No way I’ll let that happen.”

Hinata grabs a volleyball and throws it at him. “I will too. Don’t underestimate me, Kageyama.” 

“I know better than to do that,” Kageyama replies quietly. A pause, then, “You...you did well at Nationals.”

Hinata looks at him in surprise. “Yeah? You finally admit it, King?”

“It’s just a fact. Nothing to be admitted.”

For a moment, Hinata’s expression flickers between surprised and pleased, but then it grows thoughtful. “By that reasoning, it’s also a fact that you played well. Our entire team played well. And even so — we lost.” 

“Yeah.” That, too, is a cold, hard fact. 

“I want to beat Itachiyama,” Hinata says softly. “I want to beat them, and the Miya brothers, and Hoshiumi-san’s team, and Nekoma, and Fukurodani — ”

“And Seijoh, and Shiratorizawa, and Dateko — ”

“Kiryu’s team — ”

“Everyone, I want to be stronger than _everyone_ — ”

“We’re going to do it,” Kageyama says. “You, me, Karasuno. We’re going to win, and keep winning.” _As long as I’m here, you’re invincible_. Except that wasn’t true, not really, in more ways than one. They’d lost at Nationals together, and Hinata had proven himself to be far stronger than he used to be — getting strong enough to stand on his own, even. Somehow, Iwaizumi’s words from all those years ago come back to him — _six who are strong are stronger_. Maybe that was what they were now — two people who were individually strong, but stronger together. 

“We’re going all the way to the top,” Hinata says with an air of finality, standing up and stretching as he does so. He turns around to face Kageyama, and ah, there it is — that intensity, that drive, that hunger. “Are you going to teach me to set, or are you scared to lose?” 

Kageyama jumps to his feet. “Never. Get the water bottles from my bag. We’re turning you into a setter.”

Their limits were meant to be surpassed, anyway.


End file.
